Most missed guilty pleasure....

The two things I missed the most are the things, IMHO, that the USA has better than anywhere else. (That is where I lived immediately before STX)

1) Shopping - that includes Malls, 24 hr stores like Walmart and Winn Dixie etc, cheap food, in fact cheap everything.(Europe is easily twice as expensive for almost everything, and gas is about $10 per gallon!)

2) Emergency Services - knowing that should you have an emergency and need to call 911, someone will actually answer the phone, and respond. I don't mean to alarm anybody, but you need to know what you will do for yourself should an emergency arise. By contrast, in America the Police and Firefighters/Paramedics are incredibly good - fast, professional, and kind.

The water situation never was a problem for me. I was careful, but still took a tub-bath every day and had my own washing machine (no dishwasher). No taps left running when cleaning teeth or washing dishes etc, and I never had to buy water. That includes on one island that had way less rainfall than STX

Outback Steakhouse where you can get a juicy steak with sides for $12, instead of $22 or more.

Yes, miss so many of the things listed and want to include I C E C R E A M - specifically Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla (Bonham, TX) and Publix Bear Claw ice cream.....yum!

Have you had Armstrong's Ice cream?

hmm...Armstrong's...hmm...I know it's local and has been around for years, but honestly, the ice cream shop at Sunny Isle has better ice cream.. Armstrong's does have local flavors, and it's a big deal at Christmas for the guavaberry ice cream, but truly, it's just ice cream. Sorry! Just one opinion. A local, little bit elderly, friend was saying a few weeks ago that she was disappointed in Armstrong's recently. Maybe they have had some changes??

it's not as good as it used to be years ago...I will give you that. But IMHO it's better than PUBLIX

I think that the local brand, can't remember the name, it comes in the large plastic tub, is great.

while you all have the beach, i did have some Blue Bell choc ice cream tonight at work.

Grocery stores with fresh produce, pantry items that have yet to reach their sell-by date, milk that isn't spoiled before its expiration date, frozen goods that haven't melted and refrozen three times prior to purchase (plus once on the way home from the store) etc

Reliable electricity.

Customer service.

Being greeted with a *friendly* smile or "hello" rather than with a surly or disingenuous "Good morning".

I guess these things aren't really "guilty pleasures", though-- just basic things that I took for granted in the States.

(gcgem-- I'm with you on the Blue Bell ice cream but I prefer Homemade Vanilla.)

Disclaimer to the above complaints: Overall, my enjoyment of living here outweighs these nuisances.

How disingenuous is a "good morning" compared to a lot of people stateside greeting with "how are you" when clearly many don't care, or if you were to start telling them how you were, would not have the time or interest to listen?
I think it is a nice way to greet people.

How are you is not really a question. It is a greeting. Comes from the old fashioned "How do you do", which was never taken as a question.

Think of the other thread about "soon come". It's the same idea. Just because how is a question word, it doesn't have to be. Make sense?

Having said, if I really don't want to hear a long list of ills, I will simply say hello, if I can stop myself in time. Sometimes it just comes out!

terry, when my sister came to visit me in America (S. Florida) I took her to the Mall. Every shop we went into one of the assistants would say
"HI, how ARE you!" with a convincing amount of enthusiasm. At first my sister thought I had tons of friends, then she realized I didn't know these people from Adam! She asked me what the appropriate response was, and I realized that I didn't really know. Juanita's explanation that it comes from "How do you do?" makes a lot of sense because that doesn't require anything more than "How do you do?" back. Certainly nobody seems to actually want an answer! Sorry, I know this isn't about VI culture.

Hey Sabrina--I've spent most of my life outside mainland USA and first came to the states during high school. Everyone would say "how are you" or "how are you doing" and I mistook these greetings for those people actually wanting to know about how I was doing. So I'd always give a thorough answer about my state of mind! It took me a while, despite the weird looks and dismissals to figure out they did not want a long answer and that it was just supposed to be a passing greeting. Even now, I still I do not respond well to such greetings and if I'm stressed out, happy, sad, I tell people if they "ask". Which some people seem to get taken aback by, especially a negative answer!
So I much prefer the Good Morning/Good Afternoon/Good Night!

Maybe it's just me but when someone asks "how are you?" I just respond "fine, thanks, you?" or "good, thanks"...something along that line. I do kind of miss the greetings. Luckily though I work somewhere that allows me to interact with international college students. Right now there are a good amount of Jamaican students here so I can still have my "Good Mornings", "Good Afternoons" and "Good Nights". There's also the "chuking"....that's what my bf calls it...teeth sucking is what I call it.

Funny story. When I was down there one of my Stateside friends came to visit. We went to Get Lick'd for ice cream. The lady at the window greeted my friend with a "Good Night!" My friend said "Are you closed?" She said "no" and looked at him puzzled, lol. Then she said "did you want to get licked?" He said "You can do that?" Silly boy....

LOL, morna...